Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Modern Research in Social Sciences
Year: 2024
DOI:
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“Involuntary Humor” on a WhatsApp Group
Eugen Istodor
ABSTRACT:
Whatsapp represents the best-known means of efficient communication for a group of more than 1000 members (the “Communities” function, introduced in 2022). Generally, these groups are constituted starting from a common activity, for a short period of time (organizing a wedding, a birthday, hospitalization, etc) or for a long one (administration of common work in a certain field, of a block of flats, etc). We shall analyze the way in which a certain whatsapp group represents a “community of practice” (Lave & Wenger, 1991), in which it communicates, debates, constitutes and develops a common social and cultural experience, through the virtual app. The communication rites and contexts ( Lardellier, 2009) will identify numerous themes, genuine social and cultural immersion “blenders”. The way in which the roles are distributed and the internal confrontations sketch naratological elements, as Propp (1970) described. In all these cases we shall observe how involuntary humor is born. Some cases are clear: comic situations narrated by the members on the whatsapp group. Other cases, more numerous, are generated by the cascade of (multimedia) information that provokes a “behavior cascade” (Bikhchandani, Hirshleifer & Welch, 1992). We also take into consideration the means of grouping and regrouping as to taking action, the internal behavioral patterns of the group. We shall observe the way in which common emotional intelligence is constituted (Mayer, Salovi and Caruso, 2004). That is the capacity of perceiving emotions, of evaluating and generating emotions in order to facilitate problem solving and the capacity of efficiently adjusting your own emotions. In this process of ingression in the privacy of the group we shall also look into the way in which cognitive shortcuts and biases, relationships with mass media and social media may constitute a critical thinking (Habermas, 2005; Kahneman, 2012) with the view of practical action. The research method is “participatory observation”. I live in block of flats and I research its whatsapp group. In the last 3 of the 20 years in which I have been living here this online group has emerged, because a new generation moved here, with the need to become involved in the community problems. I have observed for 3 years the activities of this group of 25 members in 60 flats in a block situated in Bucharest, Romania’s capital. I have been situated in the core of the group, in its intimacy. This is a current practice in the directions of study in contemporary anthropology, giving up the disputes concerning objectivity and distancing from the subject (Allen – Collinson, 2011).
keywords: Whatsapp, humor, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, community of practice